A Good Experiment
by heyheyrubydrake
Summary: "You don't matter." "I don't matter." "You are not a person. You are an experiment. Make sure you're a good experiment... We're paying a lot of money to keep you alive." Ruby Yi was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But if that were true, maybe she was wrong, too... No. She was right, she was always right.


At first, it's hard to open the door with slippery hands. But somehow, she manages to slam one of her broad shoulders into the thick oak of the 300 wing's entrance. It doesn't really work; it never really _did_ work before, so even she can admit that it's the stupidest idea in... No. The idea had plenty of potential; it was the pursuer that was at fault. She just wasn't trying hard enough.

"Not. Enough," she grunts, emphasizing each word with a collision with the door. Of course not. Never enough. The adolescent swallows a few choppy gasps of air.

She knows she should feel scared or sad or sick to her stomach, but all she could bring herself to feel was... Anger. Anger towards herself and her situation and her principal and-and- _and..._

After another attempt, a loud, sickening crunch rings out loudly and she's glad the sound didn't emanate from within her. Although it's much easier to break through with the flimsy doorframe in pieces at her feet, it's almost impossible for her _not_ to fall on her face while wiggling in.

She doesn't have time to wonder why the 300 wing was locked, or if she should even be trespassing. After all, the corridor was exclusively for life science, and her schedule didn't feature any core classes until next semester. Furthermore, simply attending the academy which held the life science classes in the first place plays yet another major role in the list of reasons why she should not, under any circumstances, be allowed near this general area.

"This way! Hurry!" she hears the rough shouts coat the neatly painted walls of the halls and travel slowly up her spine like a lick from a dog with unreasonably thick saliva. She shudders violently; somehow, her legs move faster and faster. At long last, she finds a doorknob that is kind enough to negotiate with her sweaty palms and let her in. Things are really going her way today, because as she shuts the door, she hears louder voices originating from down the hall.

"You stupid-ass.. Ugh! Yi! The one with curls! Get Yi! I don't care about witnesses!" at least that's what she could make out of their leader's thick accent.

"The one with curls" finds a nice supply closet in which to shelter herself. Her next objective relies heavily on the skills she had acquired during the countless times she was featured in one of her mother's "silent games"

* * *

When she opens her eyes, she doesn't hear people crying out "Ruby Yi! Ruby Yi!" Instead, she hears the calming hum from the air vents. She sits still, blinking slowly to adjust to the darkness of the closet. The bruises that caress the rough skin of her body reduce her senses to that only of a dull, consistent ache.

She doesn't register that she has climbed to her feet or that she knocks over a handful of bottles in the process. Instead, she takes note of how tired she is and how desperately she wants sleep until the gash across the side of her head dries out and fades like spring leaves during the fall.

Her only weapon is a broom, but she thinks she can manage with her "renowned" strength.

She opens the door quickly and scans the room thoroughly. Thank the deities from above that the moon's light leaks through the blinds of the lab and paint the room with a pale, ghostly tint. Ruby clutches the broom tightly; it was incredibly easy for her to find comfort in material things. Maybe she should work on that...

The tint can only guide through the first part of her epic escape. By the angle of the moon, she can tell that it's a shouldn't be any later than 1 am. How incredibly irresponsible of her. She truly hopes her mother isn't worried.

The irony of it all is enough to spark a laugh. A sick, hollow, nervous laugh.

She marches blindly with fake confidence until another bright light captures her attention. She follows it, thinking hey! Maybe this is the exit.

Ruby comes to that conclusion based on the fact out of all of the doors adorning the sides of endless corridor, this one is the only one to have a light. Maybe it's the dim glow of an EMERGENCY EXIT sign, she thinks hopefully.

Of course, that's the first time she would witness one of those to be blue. She tries the doorknob, but of course, it's locked. The tips of her fingers grace the cool glass of the classroom door's sole window, and along with it, her almost fiery-hot breath. She wipes the fogged window with the palm of her gloved hand and sneaks a peek at the contents of the room.

It's an ordinary laboratory, she supposes, There are tables with marble countertops, long enough to fit two to three students and amongst the stacked texts books on each desk are a few pieces of forgotten homework and bits of broken equipment; a crusty-looking skeleton with bones missing hanging from a dull hook; a few water cycle, periodic table of elements, and other scientific studies that had been converted into small, colorful posters along the walls to make the place seem less like strict; some chunks of junk from her junior high experiences; etc. Etc.

Nothing really catches her eye like the huge tube off to the corner of the room. The glass seems to be extraordinarily thick, but Ruby wasn't a reliable source, seeing as she could barely see past her hands.

How odd, though, for something that looked so beyond modern science to even be near an 8 inch radius of the old pieces of junk that cluttered up the room.

Although it does awful things for her headache, Ruby squints her eyes even further to make out anything else beneficial to her. There's no doubt that the blue-ish glow radiates from the container, because it's impossibly easy to take note of luminescent goop that the canister is filled to the brim with. However, there's areas where the goop is darker and duller. Ruby's eyes adjust slowly. Aha! She follows the strands of blue strings like they're rivers pooling into lakes; her eyes travel further down to find the pinpoint curve of a pair of... Lips?

Ruby's heart thuds against her chest, at a more lively rate. In the goop, she began to make out the person's shoulders and the S-like curve of their spine that came with their relaxed pose. She analyzed all she could without her glasses on. People needed to see this. Was this some kind of sick experimentation with human bodies? Maybe a hybrid? Or a robot? Or...

SSSSSHHK! Her thoughts fall flat once the lights activate. Within seconds, the school sparks to life.


End file.
